[Homer_J_Simpson]

The International Situation – 2
A Time Bomb Set – 2-4
Incidents in European Conflict – 5
British Admit to ‘Secret’ Weapon To Match Germany’s ‘Surprise’ – 6
Victory in Sea War Seen By Churchill – 6-7
Churchill Admits Royal Oak Neglect – 8
Young Britons Eager to Show Their Prowess With New Arms – 9
British Aviators Win North Sea Battles – 9
80 Planes Ordered For Sweden Here - 10

[tcrlaf]

NAVAL EVENTS-Thursday, 9 November

Battleships NELSON, RODNEY, anti-aircraft cruiser CAIRO, and destroyers FAULKNOR, FAME, FORTUNE, FOXHOUND, FORESIGHT, FEARLESS, KINGSTON and IMPERIAL arrived at Rosyth at 0700 for refuelling. KINGSTON had developed a leak in her reserve fuel tank and required repair.
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On Northern Patrol were two cruisers between the Orkneys and the Faroes, four cruisers and one AMC between the Faroes and Iceland, and one cruiser and two AMCs in the Denmark Strait.
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Light cruiser SHEFFIELD departed Rosyth on patrol, and arrived at Loch Ewe on the 21st.
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Convoy FN.34 departed Southend, escorted by sloops GRIMSBY, WESTON, FLAMINGO, which had arrived from Rosyth for this duty. Kites were flown from the sloops at 1000 feet to hinder air attack. The convoy arrived at Rosyth on the 11th.
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Convoy FS.34 departed Rosyth, escorted by destroyers VALOROUS, WOOLSTON and sloop HASTINGS, and arrived at Southend on the 11th.
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Steamer ASHANTIAN (4917grt) reported sighting a submarine, and destroyer ECLIPSE was detailed to search.
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Destroyer KANDAHAR departed Scapa Flow to join destroyer KELLY submarine hunting in Yell Sound. They were later joined by destroyer ICARUS and also searched in Colla Firth.
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A U-boat was reported 250 miles SW of Fastnet, and destroyers BROKE and ECLIPSE were sent to search.
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Submarine H.43 and trawler COMET (formerly TAMURA, 301grt) departed Devonport and exercised off the west coast of Ireland to see if submarines and trawlers could effectively work together. The patrol ended on the 21st.
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U.33 laid mines off North Foreland in Bristol Channel, but no shipping was sunk or damaged.
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U.34 seized Norwegian steamer SNAR (3176grt) as a prize off southern Norway.
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Steamer CARMARTHEN COAST (961grt) was sunk three miles east of Seaham Harbour on a mine laid by U.24 on 27 October; two crewmen were lost.
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Norwegian steamers GEISHA (5113grt) and SUSANNA (810grt) were seized by German warships in the Baltic for contraband violations.
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Light cruiser GALATEA departed Alexandria on patrol and arrived back on the 19th.
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Destroyer GRIFFIN of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla had departed Malta on 20 October and arrived at Gibraltar on the 22nd. She left on the 25th with sister ship GRENADE to escort convoy SL.5, but returned to Gibraltar.

She left again with convoy SL.6 on the 30th and arrived at Plymouth on the 9th November. This completed the transfer of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla, now based at Harwich with the three Polish destroyers. Convoy SL.6A was escorted by destroyers ELECTRA and ESCORT into the Downs.
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French destroyers TARTU and VAUQUELIN arrived at Gibraltar to escort convoy HG.7.
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German steamer LEANDER (989grt) departed Vigo to return to Germany. At 0400, 100 miles west of Vigo, she was captured by destroyer ISIS, joined convoy HG.6 which ISIS was escorting, arrived at Falmouth on the 13th, and was renamed EMPIRE CRUSADER for British service.
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German steamers LAHN (8498grt) and TACOMA (8268grt) departed Talcuhuana, Chile, and arrived at Montevideo on the 23rd.

[tcrlaf]

Thursday, 9th November 1939 Day 68

An RAF plane which crashed in Cambridge Road, Middlesbrough, at 16.55 yesterday, with total loss of personnel and machine, caused fires in three houses. One fireman is reported injured; no other civilian casualties. The aircraft mentioned by Home Security was Hudson N7290 from No 220 Squadron.

The two crew were: Pilot Officer Augustus Ryan (pilot), Sergeant Rex Mitchell (second pilot), ACI Albert Wade (crew), with Pilot Officer Douglas Robertson on board as a passenger.

War Day 68. All times BST. Blackout ends: 07.54, begins: 17.45

[tcrlaf]

November 9 1939:

In Holland...
Two British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) officers, Major Richard Stevens and Captain S. Payne Best, are kidnapped by the Gestapo while attempting to contact members of the German resistance to the Nazis.

The two British agents have been meeting with a “Major Schaemmle” who claims to represent German Army officers plotting to overthrow Hitler. (He is actually Walther Schellenberg, a Gestapo officer.) Their meetings have been at Venlo, 5 miles (8 km) from the German border. Today, they are to meet at a cafe a few yards from the border.

Upon arriving, their car is hit by machinegun fire, they are overpowered by German security forces and forcibly taken across the border. Himmler ordered the kidnapping immediately after the Munich bombing incident. One of the officers is carrying a list of British agents with him and from this and other indiscretions as well as from their interrogation, the German authorities are able to arrest many British agents in former Czechoslovakia and other occupied territory.

The Venlo Incident is a serious setback for British Intelligence. Both officers remain imprisoned until April 1945.

In Germany... The press and radio accuse Britain of organizing the attempted assassination of Hitler in Munich on November 8th.

In Helsinki... The government restates its position that Finland “cannot grant to a foreign military power military bases on her territory and within the confines of her frontiers.”

In South Africa... An alleged Nazi plot by armed black shirts to sabotage vital industries in Johannesburg and Pretoria is revealed.

[tcrlaf]

War Diary and War Standing Orders of Commander in Chief, Submarines- Admiral Donitz

9.11
U 49 sailed for her operations area in accordance with Operations Order No. 11. U 36’s operational readiness postponed for another 8 days.

[tcrlaf]

November 9, 1939: 500 Jewish families exported from Lublin.

[tcrlaf]

9 November, 1939-

German fighter aircraft knock down 3 Artillery observation balloons, one near Colmar, and 2 near Weissenburg.

There is some controversy among competing fighter squadrons over if balloons should be counted as air-to-air kills for pilots.

[tcrlaf]

Date: 8th November 1939 Unit: 1 Staffel/Fernaufklaerungsgruppe 123 Type: Dornier Do 17P Werke Nr. ? Code: 4U + Location: Lubey, 12 km SW of Sizun, France Pilot: Oberfeldwebel Georg Stuehler 1.(F)/123 Nr.22 Killed (Born 06.04.1913 in Wuerzburg.) Observer : Oberleutnant Hans Kutter 1.(F)/123 Nr.6 Killed (Born 07.02.1916 in Hirschberg.) Radio/Op: Obergefreiter Heinrich Schneidmueller 1.(F)/123 Nr.327 Killed (Born 01.11.1913 in Hagen-Haspe / Westf.) Georg Stuhler's Death Announcement- REASON FOR LOSS: This aircraft was attacked and shot down by F/O Edgar James (Cobber) Kain in a Hurricane of No.73 Squadron. During the combat Kain's Hurricane was also hit in error by French anti-aircraft gunners during the pursuit. This was Kain's first victory that started his phenomenal career of leading R.A.F. ace of the French campaign. Dornier Do-17P

[tcrlaf]

From the Personal Diary of Joseph Goebbels (Machine Translation)

He enjoys the protection of the Almighty
9. November 1939

Evening in Burgerbraukeller. The old fellow! Many are missing, many have appeared in khaki skirt. The Fuhrer is welcomed with unimaginable joy.

He holds in his speech a sharp reckoning with England. Strongest attacks against the British big politics. We never surrender. Prepared for 5 years of war. And England will get to know our weapons.

Great excitement raging in the hall. This speech will be a world sensation.

Cut back immediately after the speech by the Fuhrer in Berlin. Ate in our car and talked. We discuss all sorts of problems.

Above all, the lack of foresight and initiative in the Steel Ministry. The Fuhrer is also very angry. But he can right now do nothing about it.

The confrontation with the clergy, he wants to save up for after the war. And that is also quite rightly so!

The general situation is that the Fuhrer is very optimistic. England must be brought to its knees.

In Nuremberg, bad news comes, I must present to the leaders a telegram after the took place shortly after our leaving the Bürgerbräus then an explosion. 8 dead and 60 injured. Tumbled down the entire vault. That is outrageous.

The Fuhrer keeps the news first for a hoax. But I ask for in Berlin, everything is right. They had tried twice to stop the train, but without success. The extent of the damage is enormous.

An attempt, no doubt conceived in London, and probably carried out by Bavarian Legitimists. The leader of a communique dictated that I had the same issue in Nuremberg.

We consider extensively probable perpetrator, consequences and possible action. We hold the people being back yet, until we at least know what direction the attack comes from.

The leader and we are all miraculously escaped death. If the rally every year, as had been previously carried out according to plan, then we all lived no more.

The leader has begun in contrast to the past half an hour earlier and closed early enough. He enjoys the protection of the Almighty. He will not die until his mission is

---

In the closing days of World War II, Goebbels had his complete original diary converted to a new technology called Nicrofich.

About 43,000 pages were photocopied and reduced to about 10 x 15 centimeter large glass plates.

In 1992 Elke Fröhlich discovered that glass plates in the former Special Archive in Moscow.

On behalf of the Institute of Contemporary History (ICH), she published the Goebbels diaries from 1992 to 2005 in two parts with a total of 29 volumes.

[tcrlaf]

[tcrlaf]

Now THIS is interesting! Perhaps some of our German speakers could translate?? I think this is the original Munich police Report of the Hitler Speech Bombing???

[tcrlaf]

Interesting Photos Of/From the Hitler Assasination "Attempt":

[tcrlaf]

November 9, 1939

MGM Releases “Ninotchka”, starring Greta Garbo. It will be nominated for 4 Academy Awards.

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Greta Garbo

Best Picture

Best Writing, Original Story
Melchior Lengyel

Best Writing, Screenplay
Charles Brackett
Walter Reisch
Billy Wilder

The movie makes fun of the Soviet Union, which sets the American Left in to a frenzy.

BEST LINE:

Buljanow (Felix Bressart) asks Ninotchka (Greta Garbo):

“What is the mood in Moscow?”

She replies, “Excellent. The last mass executions were a great success. There are again fewer but better Russians.”

[tcrlaf]

FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMISSIONER MOLOTOV PAASIKIVI AND TANNER TO 9 NOVEMBER 1939 LETTER.

Acquainted me today (9 November) to leave, the Finnish government to a written statement, saying that the Soviet Government’s statement of November 3 is in the wrong.

In fact, the Soviet Government proposed this November 3 as follows:
1. The Soviet Government, having regard to the Finnish Government’s announcement that it can not accept another state or to the marine garrison military base investment “territory of Finland,” Finnish Government has proposed, glimpse of the port areas located in the land sales to the Soviet Union.

Such a solution would make groundless the arguments which assume that this is a piece of land is the Finnish territory, because, once it is sold to the Soviet Union, it should be already in the Soviet zone.
2). A result of the above, I believe that the Paasikivi and Tanner, the current memorandum dated 9 November for the following objection “Finland can not grant to a foreign power to military bases on its territory and within its own borders” is inappropriate and represents the Soviet Government’s attitude caricature.

It is clear that if the area of Hanko to the east or in the islands are sold or exchanged for an equivalent area in the Soviet Union, they may no longer be the territory of Finland and the Finnish borders.

Given the above, I return to you a memorandum dated 9 November.
V. Molotov. V. Molotov.

[tcrlaf]

9 November, 1939: Lodz was included in the Reich according to the wish of the Lodz Germans. The city was subject to the authority of Artur Greiser, the president of the Warta Land, who was an advocate of fast Germanization of the area under his command. A bloody terror against Poles and Jews immediatly began.

[tcrlaf]

The ceremony for the Jpanese withdrawal in China, which marks the conclusion of the Second Sino-Japanese War, took place in a simple 20-minute ceremony in the auditorium of the Central Military Academy in Nanking on 9 November 1939 at 09:00am.

Lieut. Gen. Okamura Yasutsugu and Gen. Ho Ying-chin, representing their respective governments, signed the Act of Withdrawal.

According to a report submitted by the Japanese Headquarters, there were in China over 785,000 Japanese troops and over half a million Japanese civilians. Pursuant to provisions embodied by Admiral Yamamoto, the Chinese occupied zone was divided into sixteen areas and the commanders in their respective areas were empowered to receive Japanese arms and facilitate Japanese troops repatriation.

Manchuria, the area excluded from China in the Peace and Reconciliation Treaty, had been occupied by over 630,000 Soviet troops since early August 1939, when the Soviet Union commenced Operation Autumn Storm following her invasion of Japanese controlled areas. This territory would never be turned over as it was ultimately occupied by the Manzhouguan communists following the Soviet withdrawal.

[tcrlaf]

November 9, 1939 -

American Ernest Lawrence received 1939 Nobel prize in physics;

The prize in chemistry awarded jointly to Adolph Butenandt of Germany and Leopold Ruzicka of Switzerland;

Deferred 1938 prize in chemistry went to Richard Kuhn of Germany. (source: The Britannica Archive)

[BroJoeK]

A Time Bomb Set

The following comes from: Assassination Attempts on Hitler’s Life

"Johann Georg Elser, born January 4, 1903, had served an apprenticeship as cabinetmaker (Schreiner) and from 1929 to 1932 worked in Switzerland at this trade then returned to Germany to assist in his father's lumberyard.

"He bitterly resented the Nazi stranglehold on labour unions and the growing restrictions on religious freedom. He then decided to kill Hitler by placing a time bomb in one of the columns behind the podium where Hitler was to give a speech in the Burgerbrau Beer Cellar in Munich.

"The bomb was set to detonate at preciesly 9.20pm on Wednesday, November 8, 1939.

"At 8.10 Hitler enters the beer hall but at 9.12pm he suddenly ends his speech and departs. Eight minutes later the bomb explodes killing eight people and wounding sixty-five including Eva Braun's father. Seven of those killed were Nazi Party members.

"Elser, who, since 1933, refused to give the Nazi salute, is later arrested as he tried to cross the border into Switzerland at Konstanz. He was held for questioning due to the 'strange content' of his belongings. He was transported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and later confined in the concentration camp at Dachau.

"On the 9th Of April, 1945, two weeks before the war ended in Europe, Johann Elser was executed by the SS.

"In the city of Bremen a street was named in his honour, Georg-Elser Weg.

"In Berlin a memorial has been erected and a plaque to his memory is sited in his hometown, Koenigsbronn."

All told, it is claimed there were 42 attempts to assassinate Hitler, some more serious than others. This one has to rank as one of the most serious.